Study: Free apps pose privacy, security risks

Free mobile software apps are much more likely to pose data security and privacy risks to consumers and businesses than paid software, according to a new study of 1.7 million Android apps from Juniper Networks.

As the Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal reports, free apps are 401 percent more likely to track location and 314 percent more likely to access user address books than paid apps, Dan Hoffman, Juniper's chief mobile security evangelist wrote in a blog Monday night. They are also more likely to initiate phone calls, access a device's camera and send messages unbeknownst to a user.